District 1 1-A Girl’s Tournament Championship… North Greene secures title with win over Cloudland
Published 11:13 am Tuesday, February 22, 2022
1 of 4
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Cloudland's Karah Fields goes up for a basket over top of North Greene's Sonja Wagner.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Saharra McKinney tries to take the basketball to the rim as she attempts to split a pair of North Greene defenders.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Cloudland's Ella Benfield quickly pushes the basketball down the floor in the District 1 1-A Girl's Championship.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Izabella Christman of the Lady Highlanders looks for a teammate to pass the ball off to.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
HAPPY VALLEY – The Cloudland Lady Highlanders were in position to take the 2022 District 1 1-A Girl’s Tournament championship but they had a tall task in front of them and that was getting by the regular-season champion North Greene.
Coach Matt Birchfield’s Lady Highlanders played even over the first 16 minutes but the second half proved to be the deciding factor as Cloudland struggled to get shots to fall as the Lady Huskies held on for a 45-37 win and the district title.
Cloudland held leads at both the end of the first and second quarter as the ladies from Roan Mountain led 14-13 and 23-22 at the break.
Ella Benfield led the charge in the half as she worked the paint for nine points. Izabella Christman and Saharra McKinney netted four while Karah Fields and Ryan Turbyfill knocked down a three-ball apiece.
Meanwhile, North Greene relied on their big post, Brooklyn Anderson, to do damage in the middle scoring nine for North Greene. Zoe Sanders was taking the ball to the rim as well as the guard added six points.
Shelby Davenport contributed with five in the first half for the Lady Huskies and Emily Britton collected a deuce.
The third period changed the course of the contest as North Greene came out to outscore Cloudland 11-5 to take a 33-28 lead into the final period of action.
North Greene was able to do enough offensively in the final eight minutes of play to stay just ahead of the Lady Highlanders to prevent a comeback as the Lady Huskies took the title.
Benfield led the Lady Highlanders with a team-high 10 points in the game followed by McKinney with nine points and eight from Fields.
Tournament MVP Anderson totaled a game-high 15 points while Sanders tallied double figures with 11.
With the win, North Greene will host Jellico on Friday at 7 p.m. while the Lady Highlanders will also be at home as they host Hancock County with a 7 p.m. start time.
—
District 1 1-A Girls Tournament Championship
North Greene, 45-37
Cloudland (37)
Izabella Christman 4, Ella Benfield 10, Karah Fields 8, Ryan Turbyfill 6, Saharra McKinney 9.
North Greene (45)
Zoe Sanders 11, Brooklynn Anderson 15, Emily Britton 2, Shelby Davenport 7, Sonja Wagner 5, Hailee English 5.
Cloudland ……. 14 9 5 9 – 37
North Greene… 13 9 11 12 – 45
